if 2nd N400 interview is needed, what questions to expect.

[steeeeve 25]

my wife has a memory like a sieve, we've been practicing the civics test questions and i thought she was doing OK on the old test but now with the 2025 test, she seems to have forgot the stuff she already knows! 

 

so, suppose she fails the N400 interview on the civics, on a second test, would she have to answer 12 out of 20 randomly chosen or would they only ask the questions she failed on the first time?

if she failed on the english writing, would she get the same sentence to write next time and if she didn't know a definition on the yes/no questions, would she have to explain only the words she failed the first time?

 

thanks

Edited 4 hours ago by steeeeve

[OldUser 10,704]

44 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

my wife has a memory like a sieve, we've been practicing the civics test questions and i thought she was doing OK on the old test but now with the 2025 test, she seems to have forgot the stuff she already knows! 

 

 

If she filed N-400 before October 20, she's going to be asked questions from 2008 test. 2025 test is for new applicants.

 

44 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

so, suppose she fails the N400 interview on the civics, on a second test, would she have to answer 12 out of 20 randomly chosen or would they only ask the questions she failed on the first time?

 

She'll be asked random questions again second time.

 

44 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

 

if she failed on the english writing, would she get the same sentence to write next time and if she didn't know a definition on the yes/no questions, would she have to explain only the words she failed the first time?

 

thanks

No, she'll get random sentence.

 

 

Essentially, she'll get another interview with random questions. She's expected to answer any question on test, so they're not going to focus on those she didn't answer.

 

In short, she should expect any question on first and second attempts.

Edited 3 hours ago by OldUser

[Crazy Cat 45,507]

40 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

my wife has a memory like a sieve, we've been practicing the civics test questions and i thought she was doing OK on the old test but now with the 2025 test, she seems to have forgot the stuff she already knows! 

 

so, suppose she fails the N400 interview on the civics, on a second test, would she have to answer 12 out of 20 randomly chosen or would they only ask the questions she failed on the first time?

if she failed on the english writing, would she get the same sentence to write next time and if she didn't know a definition on the yes/no questions, would she have to explain only the words she failed the first time?

 

thanks

Has she submitted the N-400 yet?  If not, get it submitted asap...before Oct 20th.  Stop worrying about the 2025 test, and concentrate on ONLY the 100 questions from the 2008 test.  You are overthinking this....

Edited 3 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[steeeeve 25]

not what i hoped for.  my wife knows a bunch of questions and a bunch of answers, the problem she has is connecting them in the right order, so something i think she knows like "name one war fought by the US in the 1800s", half of the time she'll answer WW1 or 2 and there seems to be no way i can fix that.

 

BTW, we can't apply until next summer so she will get the 2025 test

Edited 3 hours ago by steeeeve

[Crazy Cat 45,507]

11 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

not what i hoped for.  my wife knows a bunch of questions and a bunch of answers, the problem she has is connecting them in the right order, so something i think she knows like "name one war fought by the US in the 1800s", half of the time she'll answer WW1 or 2 and there seems to be no way i can fix that.

 

BTW, we can't apply until next summer so she will get the 2025 test

Honestly, could this be an English comprehension issue?  Would she benefit by some English classes before applying?  I sincerely wish her the best on this final immigration step.

Edited 3 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[igoyougoduke 1,704]

14 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

not what i hoped for.  my wife knows a bunch of questions and a bunch of answers, the problem she has is connecting them in the right order, so something i think she knows like "name one war fought by the US in the 1800s", half of the time she'll answer WW1 or 2 and there seems to be no way i can fix that.

 

BTW, we can't apply until next summer so she will get the 2025 test

i would say the history part should be practiced by timelines of US history. like what happened in 1800's - civil war kind of stuff to 1900's where we had word war 1/2/ vietnam.

 

Tie the events to history. i still get confused with the questions from the historical stuff as i keep practicing. remembering the historical stuff when you never learnt them in school is hard 

Edited 3 hours ago by igoyougoduke

[steeeeve 25]

she's been speaking English every day for 22 years with me so i doubt a few lessons will make much of a difference. like i said, she understands the questions and the answers, but makes simple mistakes connecting them. i've tried to explain American history and government structure so she understands the concepts behind the questions, and she's seen videos in Thai too, but Thai's are taught in school not to think and problem solve, simply to remember and regurgitate

 

 

[Crazy Cat 45,507]

8 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

she's been speaking English every day for 22 years with me so i doubt a few lessons will make much of a difference. like i said, she understands the questions and the answers, but makes simple mistakes connecting them. i've tried to explain American history and government structure so she understands the concepts behind the questions, and she's seen videos in Thai too, but Thai's are taught in school not to think and problem solve, simply to remember and regurgitate

 

 

OK.  Skip the English classes.  Some people are visual learners....I am.  Maybe she can hand-write the 100 questions and their answers and study that.  Then, when your wife hears the question, she can visualize it in her mind with the correct answer.   That is how I lean more effectively, and that is what my wife did before her citizenship test. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[OldUser 10,704]

If English isn't a problem, then it improves things significantly.

 

There's videos on YouTube going through questions. There's phone app by USCIS for studying for exam. When I studied for the test, I noticed how different questions were related. For example, questions about George Washington. There's at least 2 or 3 I can think of in a test. Talk about the person - who he was, what he did. This will answer at least a few questions.

Same goes about wars. Who US fought in WWII and who was president in the US at the time. They're different questions, but they're related 

Edited 2 hours ago by OldUser

[steeeeve 25]

thanks for all the tips. the big problem i have is its like swimming up river, the moment you stop swimming, you go back down stream. i think she has learned something pretty well, then the next day we go for a walk, i ask a test question and get an answer from a different question. 

 

i agree with Crazy Cat, maybe the only way is she hand writes out all the questions and answers over and over again

Edited 2 hours ago by steeeeve

[Crazy Cat 45,507]

2 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

i agree with Crazy Cat, maybe the only way is she hand writes out all the questions and answers over and over again

I didn't say write them over and over again.  I said hand-write them and study that list.

[OldUser 10,704]

3 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

thanks for all the tips. the big problem i have is its like swimming up river, the moment you stop swimming, you go back down stream. i think she has learned something pretty well, then the next day we go for a walk, i ask a test question and get an answer from a different question. 

Kudos to you for helping your wife study for the test! I see there's challenge, but the good news is, she still has time to learn and prepare. Maybe there's somebody from her community who passed the exam recently? Maybe they could help her study too?

[steeeeve 25]

1 minute ago, Crazy Cat said:

I didn't say write them over and over again.  I said hand-write them and study that list.

ok, i added that part because not sure studying the list is working

[Crazy Cat 45,507]

16 minutes ago, steeeeve said:

ok, i added that part because not sure studying the list is working

Like I said, hand-writing the list makes a big difference for me. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[From_CAN_2_US 1,184]

1 hour ago, steeeeve said:

thanks for all the tips. the big problem i have is its like swimming up river, the moment you stop swimming, you go back down stream. i think she has learned something pretty well, then the next day we go for a walk, i ask a test question and get an answer from a different question. 

 

i agree with Crazy Cat, maybe the only way is she hand writes out all the questions and answers over and over again

Maybe she should read the civics text book instead of the questions. That way she would be learning the events rather than memorising?